The Tampa Bay Lightning became the first NHL franchise to be located in the state of Florida when they faced off for the very first time in a regular-season contest in 1992/93. The team has boasted some of the league’s top players over the years such as Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Dave Andreychuk, Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Brad Richards, Brayden Point, Brian Bradley and Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The franchise took a while to heat up but the Lightning proved that hockey could succeed in the deep south. Tampa Bay has been a hit since joining the NHL as they have won the Stanley Cup 3 times, their wins were in 2003/04, 2019/20 and 2020/21 and also reached the finals in 2014/15 and 2021/22.
In addition, the club won the Presidents’ trophy in 2018/19 as the NHL’s top regular-season team.
Stanley Cup Finals 2004: Tampa Bay Lightning vs Calgary Flames
The Lightning captured their first Stanley Cup 12 years after entering the NHL when they beat Calgary in 7 games the Final. This was the first visit to the Final for Tampa Bay and their first visit to the postseason in 7 years. They and entered the playoffs as the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Head coach John Tortorella guided his troops to a 5-game victory over the 8th-seeded New York Islanders in the 1st round and followed it up with a 4-game sweep of the 7th-seeded Montreal Canadiens in the next round. They then took care of the 3rd-seeded Philadelphia Flyers in 7 games to win the Eastern Conference.
Calgary was making their first playoff appearance since 1995/96. They were ranked the 6th seed in the West and downed the top-3 seeded teams to make the Final as they beat the Vancouver Canucks in 7 games, the Detroit Red Wings in 6 and the San Jose Sharks in 6. It was their first Final appearance since 1988/89 and third overall. They were also the first Canadian team to reach the Final since 1993/94.
Tampa Bay had home-ice advantage but lost it in the opener as they were beaten 4-1. They rebounded in game 2 with a 4-1 victory of their own in a fight-filled contest thanks to 3 goals in the 3rd period. Calgary won their first home game 3-0 courtesy of a shutout by Mikka Kiprusoff but were then shut out by Tampa’s Nikolai Khabibulin 1-0 in the next contest. Brad Richards scored the power-play winner just 3 minutes into the game on a 2-man advantage.
Late in the game, Calgary’s Ville Nieminen checked Vincent Lecavalier from behind and into the boards and was handed a 5-minute major penalty and a 5-game suspension. Calgary took game 5 in overtime by a 3-2 score and were just a win away from the Cup. However Tampa evened the series in game 6 as Martin St. Louis notched the winner 33 seconds into the 2nd overtime period. They then won the Cup at home in game 7 with a 2-1 victory as Ruslan Fedotenko scored both goals and ended up with 12 in the playoffs.
Check out the series highlights in this YouTube video:
2004 Tampa Bay Playoff Leaders
Several Lightning players finished in the top-12 in playoff scoring. Brad Richards led the league with 12 goals and 14 assists for 26 points in 23 games and also won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs. Martin St. Louis racked up 24 points in 23 games with 9 goals and 15 assists to finish 2nd while Fredrik Modin finished 4th with with 8 goals and 11 helpers for 19 points in 23 contests.
Vincent Lecavalier had 9 goals, 7 assists and 16 points in 23 outings to finish 6th. Ruslan Fedotenko and Dave Andreychuk finished tied for 9th with 14 points as Fedotenko tallied 12 goals and 2 assists in 22 games while Andreychuk had a goal and 13 helpers. As for the goaltending, Nikolai Khabibulin went 16-7, finished tied for 2nd in goals-against average at 1.71, 4th in save percentage at 93.3 and tied for 1st in shutouts with 5.
Stanley Cup Finals 2020: Tampa Bay Lightning vs Dallas Stars
Tampa finished the regular-season in 2nd place in the Eastern Conference and beat Columbus in 5 games in the 1st round, the Boston Bruins in 5 games in the 2nd round and won the Conference Final over the New York Islanders in 6. Dallas finished the campaign in 4th place in the West and got to the final by downing the Calgary Flames in 6 games, the Colorado Avalanche in 7 and the Vegas Golden Knights in 5.
The 2019/20 season was affected by the Covid 19 pandemic and the Final series was held behind closed doors in Edmonton. It was the 5th Final for the Stars franchise and they were seeking their 2nd Cup. It was the 3rd Final for Tampa and they also had a Cup to their name. It was the first playoff meeting between the teams and Dallas had won both regular-season clashes.
Dallas kicked off the series with a 4-1 win and hung on in the 3rd period when they were outshot 22-2. Tampa took a 3-0 lead in the 1st period of game 2 and sweated out a 3-2 victory with Kevin Shattenkirk scoring the winner. Steven Stamkos made his first appearance in the playoffs as he returned in game 3 from injury and scored as Tampa won 5-2. The Lightning erased a 2-goal deficit in game 4 and won 5-4 in overtime on Shattenkirk’s power-play goal. In game 5, Corey Perry kept Dallas alive with his goal in the 2nd overtime period for a 3-2 win. Tampa took the Cup in game 6 as Andrei Vasilevskiy shut them out 2-0 with Brayden Point scoring the winning goal.
Watch every goal of this exciting series in this YouTube video:
2020 Tampa Bay Playoff Leaders
Nikita Kucherov led the league in postseason scoring as he played 25 games and notched 7 goals and 27 assists for 34 points. Brayden Point finished 2nd with 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points in 23 contests while Victor Hedman finished 5th with 10 goals and 12 helpers for 22 points in 25 outings.
In addition, Hedman won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP. As for the goaltending, Andrei Vasilevskiy went 18-7, finished tied for 2nd in goals-against average at 1.90 and 3rd in save percentage at 92.7.
Stanley Cup Finals 2021: Tampa Bay Lightning vs Montreal Canadiens
The 2020/21 season was also affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and Tampa finished 3rd in the Central Division. They beat the Florida Panthers in 6 games in the 1st round, the Carolina Hurricanes in 5 games in the 2nd round , and the New York Islanders in 7 games to win the Eastern Conference Final. Montreal entered the postseason as the 16th and lowest-ranked team.
However they made it to the Final by downing the Toronto Maple Leafs in 7 games, the Winnipeg Jets in 4 and the Vegas Golden Knights in 5. This was the 2nd straight Final for Tampa and 4th overall as they were seeking their 3rd Cup while Montreal was appearing in their 35th Final and were aiming for their 25th Cup. The teams had met 3 times before in the playoffs with Tampa holding a 2-1 series edge.
Montreal was aiming to be the first Canadian team to capture the Stanley Cup since they last won it in 1992/93 and was the first Canadian team to reach the Final since the Vancouver Canucks in 2010/11. The teams didn’t meet in the 2020/21 regular season and Tampa had home-ice advantage.
The Lightning stormed out of the gates and won the first 3 games by scores of 5-1, 3-1 and 6-3. However Montreal avoided becoming the first team to be swept in a Stanley Cup Final since they did it to the St. Louis Blues in 1967/68 when they won game 4 at home 3-2 in overtime. Tampa then wrapped up their 2nd-straight Cup and 3rd overall with a 1-0 victory in game 5 as Ross Colton scored the only goal. Tampa became the first team since the New York Islanders in 1982/83 to win the Cup without winning a game in overtime game during the postseason.
Watch the Lightning’s road to their second straight Stanley Cup in this video:
2021 Tampa Bay Playoff Leaders
The top 5 playoff scorers were all Lightning players as Nikita Kucherov led the league with 8 goals and 24 assists for 32 points in 23 games followed by Brayden Point with 14 goals and 9 assists for 23 points in 23 contests; Steven Stamkos with 8 goals and 10 helpers for 18 points in 23 outings; Victor Hedman with 2 goals and 16 assists for 18 points in 23 games and Alex Killorn with 8 goals and 9 assists for 17 points in 19 contests.
As for the goaltending, Andrei Vasilevskiy went 16-7, finished 2nd in goals-against average at 1.90, 1st in save percentage at 93.7 and 1st in shutouts with 5. Vasilevskiy won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, becoming the first netminder to do so since Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings in 2011/12. Remarkably, Vasilevskiy earned a shutout in the deciding game of all 4 playoff series.
How Many Times Have the Tampa Bay Lightning Appeared in the Stanley Cup Finals?
Tampa first made it to the Stanley Cup Final in 2003/04 when they won the cup by beating Calgary in 7 games. The next trip came in 2014/2015 when they were beaten in 6 games by the Chicago Blackhawks. They then reached the Final in 3 straight seasons as they beat Dallas in 6 in 2019/20 and Montreal in 5 in 2020/21 before losing to the Colorado Avalanche in 6 games in 2021/22. This meant Tampa had reached the Final in 4 of 8 seasons between 2015 and 2022.
View the action from the 2015 Cup Final against Chicago in this video:
And watch the 2021/22 Final against Colorado in this YouTube video:
See how many Stanley Cups each team has won below:
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Jamie is the founder of Hockey Response and he is the chief writer/ lead editor. Jamie has been playing hockey for over 20 years. He was the defenseman of the year in NL and has played Jr A level hockey. Jamie has coached several kids hockey camps and he was the assistant coach of the Western Kings.
